5 technical errors with the I-129F fiance visa form

The I-129F form has unclear instructions and confusing questions. I’ve documented over 20 of these instances that can get you in trouble. Here are a few samples.

At most, it may happen once or twice with you. Where you’re really into “research mode” looking up answers on how to fill out the I-129F. You get up to a question and something stops you dead in your tracks.

Then you stop and slowly squint your eyes, move your head forward and ask yourself, “wait a minute… this doesn’t make sense. How do I answer this?”

Surprisingly, most applicants don’t notice confusing or ambiguous instructions. They just slip by. And if they do notice, it’s usually just ignored.

That’s not a good thing. Answering incorrectly leads to a RFE, delay or even denial. That’s why you must read the I-129F form and instructions slowly and carefully. And be sure you know what you’re writing.

But, at the same time, you’re stuck because you don’t know who to ask for trustworthy answers. And it gets worse as the USCIS isn’t “there” to help clarify anything.

We’ll talk about that. But, first, let’s back up. What exactly do I mean by “confusing instructions” or “technical errors” with the I-129F?

Are there examples? Yes, plenty. But, I’ll give you just 5 for now. Let’s take a look.

Example Problem # 1 (I-129F question 16.b)

We’ll start easy. Here’s example problem # 1in the I-129F form. Look at the I-129F form Page 2, question 16.b. It asks you to provide your work history in the last 5 years. Seems simple enough.

The last part asks you to input the “employment end date”. Meaning, when did you leave this employer?

However, there’s no way to say that you currently work with this employer — which is the situation for MOST of us. We all currently work for an employer. You can try to type in the word “present”. But, you’ll get an error message because the PDF only accepts a date.

Now, you may ask “what if we just write today’s date?” Well, you don’t want to do that because they’ll misinterpret that today was your final day with your employer.

How about leaving this field blank? It makes me a bit uncomfortable to do that. It feels like you’re avoiding answering. There may be a chance you’ll get delayed by an RFE asking you to fill this form out again. We don’t want to risk that. So, what do we do? How do you tell them you currently work for this employer?

Example Problem # 2 (I-129F questions 27.a to 36.b)

Here’s example problem # 2with the I-129F form and it’s that it doesn’t tell you what to do if some details are unknown for a particular question. And you probably didn’t even notice this unless it applies to you.

For example, take a glance at Page 3, questions 27.a to 36.b. It asks about your parent’s information. Things like name, birth dates, country of birth, etc.

But, what if your parent’s information is unknown? Like town of birth? Or even if your parent has passed away, how do you fill out the questions about residences?

Nothing in the instructions tell you what to do if information is unavailable.

What about leaving it blank? Well, it’s the same uncomfortable feeling like the question before. I don’t want to avoid answering questions, but I also don’t want to give them the wrong information. Who knows…maybe you’ll get delayed with an RFE because you didn’t answer the questions fully.

And remember, this question is asked twice. Once for the US petitioner’s parents and then later for the beneficiary’s parents. The same uncertainty lingers for both of you. So, how do you respond when information is unknown?

Example Problem # 3

Let’s stick with this same question for a moment. Here’s the problem # 3. Do these questions refer to your biological parents or adoptive? Let’s say you are adopted. Whose information do you put here? Does this apply to step-parents or a legal guardian?

Again, the instructions don’t say anything. And unless you are in this situation, you probably didn’t notice, right?

Let’s say your parents are divorced and you have step-parents. Do you put your biological parent’s information? Or your step-parent’s?

As funny as it sounds, we actually need them to define what “parent” means…

Example Problem # 4 (I-129F question 37 to 39)

Here’s another one. See page 3 question 37 to 39 of the I-129F form. It asks about your past marriages. You’re asked to write your ex-spouse’s name. You’re thinking, “they’re just asking for my ex-spouse’s name. How much simpler can this question be?”

Well, it’s not so clear. It doesn’t say whether this is his/her maiden name or after-marriage name. I-129F Instructions don’t indicate, either.

In addition, what if your ex has reverted to her/his original (maiden) name after divorcing you? What do you put here now?

Example Problem # 5 (I-129F questions 1-6)

Here’s another example of the problems with this form. Fortunately, for this one, I’ll show you how to figure out the answer. Look at page 9 (Part 4) of the I-129F, questions 1-6. It asks about “biographic information”.

It asks about ethnicity, race, height, weight, etc. But did you stop and ask…to whom does this entire section refer? The US petitioner or Beneficiary? The question or instructions don’t clearly say who’s information they’re asking for.

We can actually figure this out.

Look back at the I-129F instructions. It doesn’t indicate who this question is talking about. But, it does say that by filling out part 4, it may “reduce the time you spend at your USCIS ASC appointment…”.

Only the US Petitioner may be called in for an ASC appointment while the I-129F is being adjudicated. Never the beneficiary. Therefore, this section can only apply to the US petitioner.

But, of course, how would YOU possibly know that? Especially if this is the first time you’re filing the I-129F. Why didn’t they just clearly say it in the instructions or question?

The truth is that YOU won’t notice these problems unless you’re an expert OR very familiar with the K-1 fiance visa process. Like it’s mentioned earlier, I’ve documented over 20 of these instances where problems in the forms can get you in trouble.

How bad is it? Are these really a problem for my I-129F?

Alright, so now that you know there are plenty of technical errors and ambiguities with the I-129F. Aren’t you wondering if they’re going to be a real problem? I mean, these are just small questions. It doesn’t feel like they’ll cause any issues, right?

Take for example, the question about “employment end date” (problem # 1). Wouldn’t it be okay just to leave it blank? And if the USCIS does issue an RFE, then what’s the big deal? You’ll just respond to it. No harm done, right?

Actually, there’s plenty of harm that can be done. Getting an RFE is just one small obstacles. There are other huge reasons for concern.

Reasons for concern

Missing informationIf the USCIS thinks you’re missing information, they’ll stop processing your I-129F petition and send you an RFE. This typically causes delays because they’re waiting for you to respond. Secondly, there’s a risk that they’ll reject (deny) your case if the I-129f is poorly constructed or too many unanswered questions.

For example, imagine if one of your parents is deceased. And you decide to leave the field blank which asks for your parent’s residency. What would the USCIS do? Would they send you an RFE asking for it? And, how can they know your parent is deceased?

MisinterpretationWhat if you “meant” something, but it’s misinterpreted by the USCIS or the US Embassy. They may be unsure whether or not to approve your case.

Here’s a scary example in the I-129F: page 6, questions 37 – 38.h. The question asks you to fill out the answers if your fiance is “currently” in the US. But when you look at the instructions for the same question it says something very different. It says fill out the section for your fiance’s “most recent entry” in the US.

So, what do you put? only if they’re currently in the US or their most-recent entry?

And the big problem with this whole situation is this: if you put anything here, will the USCIS could think that your fiance is here on an expired visa or entry? (meaning illegally).

InconsistencyLast problem. What if they “think” something based on your application, but you answer something different in the K-1 interview? will they think you’re lying?

Take a simple example. Question 48 – 49.b on page 4 of the I-129F form asks about the petitioner’s children under the age of 18.

Well, humor me; what’s the USCIS’s definition of “children”? Does it include biological, foster, adoptive?

Importantly, what about child custody situations (after divorce) you don’t have custody of them? Do children even have to reside in the US?

Now, imagine you didn’t put any information here thinking your children don’t “count” since you’re divorced and don’t have custody of them.

Then, let’s say your fiance is asked about your children in the K-1 interview and says “yes, he/she has children”. Will the officers suspect your fiance is lying? Will this result in a denial?

How do we know if we filled out the I-129F correctly?

We can debate about these technical errors all day long. But, it’ll probably do little to help.

You see, the USCIS doesn’t publish what mistakes people make in their petitions. Imagine you mess up your forms. They send you an RFE and it gets fixed. Great… but how do the rest of us know not to make the same mistake? We keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

And, they don’t have an open forum to answer your questions either. So, how do we know whether or not we filled out our papers correctly?

There’s no feedback system or “best practices” from the USCIS. No “hotline” to answer your questions. And, the USCIS customer service doesn’t provide technical help. We’re left on our own to figure out a lot of stuff.

Even more confusing questions in the I-129F

Funny enough, this current I-129F (in year 2017-2018) is leagues better than the ones from previous years. Although the instructions are getting better, they still have a long way to go.

The point here is to make you aware of the issues in the I-129F form. Then, once you realize that all is not as it seems, you take your time and complete forms carefully.

If there’s one thing you take away from me is this– be careful and take this I-129F very seriously. Recent statistics show that denials are creeping up to 24% (near-record highs).

That’s why I’ve gone through the entire I-129F and picked up close to 20 mistakes like the ones we talked about that can get you in trouble. Then I researched and figured out their “fixes”. Like the example about the “biographic information” and whether it applies to the US petitioner or beneficiary. We figured out that it can only apply to the US petitioner.

Just like that, if you want to see the full list of the 20+ problems and their “solutions”, check out my I-129F guide. It’s a full step-by-step course to making your perfect I-129F fiance visa packet so a solid approval.

There are 8 comments so far

Just want to know if i need to attatch my denial form to my new petition for 129f, the denial form requires to submmit evidences within 30days if you want to appeal, and i you exceeded 30days, you’ll file a new petition 129f. My question is, should i include denial form or no? Because in every petition there’s a different A-number.

Hello Jose,
You don’t have submit your appeal documents within your new I-129F. Consider it like starting fresh. But there’s two things I want to point out to you (1) Your A-number doesn’t change. It’s your own unique alien registration # and it’s not affected by which application you submit (2) be careful about a multiple filer waiver. If your filing for the same fiance, then it’s not a worry. However, if it’s for a different fiance, then you must work on your multiple filer situation.
-Prem

Hi Karina,
There are several ways to handle this problem. One of which is to simply hand write “present”. It’s not going to look pretty, but it gets the job done. The other way is to write with some PDF writer. And I explain all of this in the I-129F course and walk you through it step by step. Not to mention, 20 other similar problems.
-Prem

My fiancé filed a fiancé petition for me and we received NOA in September 11,however he noticed an error on my names in the forms and he corrected that ,In November 14 we got an update that names have been updated well,since then there has been no another update,what does this mean,will the process take longer or what?

Just one question. My case has reached my local embassy (K1 visa), but I haven’t been contacted by the embassy yet for me to schedule the interview. What is connected with? I have sent an inquiry to the embassy, and haven’t received any reply yet. What do you think?

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At first, I didn't even know what a fiance visa was. After major setbacks in the K-1, I decided to take control... I'm no lawyer but I share helpful things I learned along the way. [Please note: nothing on this website shall be considered legal advice. Read full disclaimer below]read about me

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